Abstract

EFFECTS OF COFFEE AND OVALTINE (MILO) ON BLOOD PRESSURE IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS

*Dr. Syed Asif Jahanzeb Kazmi, Dr. Naheed Akhter, Dr. Komal Zulfiqar, Zahid Hussain, Zahid Mehboob and Syed Hisham Hassan

ABSTRACT

Background: The pressor or depressor effect of ovaltine (Milo) and coffee is significant for both public and scientific perspectives. They are most commonly consumed beverages around the world with limited and controversial data available. Methods: The study was carried out with null hypothesis that single high dose of coffee and normal amount of ovaltine would affect systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The study was open labelled nonrandomized prospective with parallel groups. There were 84 subjects enrolled (38 Ovaltine and 46 coffee) and equal number of controls for Ovaltine and coffee respectively. The negative control were in across over fashion. The confidence interval was 95% and confidence level was 99%. Results: The increase in mean systolic blood pressure of ovaltine groups and ovaltine control were 5.21mmHg (4.42%) p value<0.001 and 0.58mmHg (0.50%) p value>0.05 where as The change in mean diastolic blood pressure of ovaltine groups and ovaltine control between 0 and 30 minutes were 4.24 mmHg (5.47%) p value< 0.001 and 1.11mm Hg(1.43%) p value< 0.01. Conclusion: Ovaltine (Milo) intake leads to modest increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure while coffee has shown only a minute change in blood pressure. Our results provide support for a correlation between ovaltine (Milo) and coffee intake and increase in blood pressure. In persons with hypertension and other heart diseases safe usage needs further evaluation.

Keywords: Ovaltine (Milo), Coffee, Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, Hypertension.